Function: Decomposition, Localization, Abstraction
Speakers: Ray Brassier, Reza Negarestani
March 25, 2014, 6:30pm

Although principally associated with a thesis in the philosophy of mind, functionalism has wide-ranging ramifications. The concept of “functional role” or “functional organization” ties together a metaphysical problem about the basis of the distinction between matter and form, an epistemic problem about how to distinguish semantic content from physical information, and an engineering problem about the relation between structural and functional properties.

This workshop will try to unravel the metaphysical, epistemic, and engineering aspects of functionalism by developing themes from the work of philosophers including William Bechtel, Robert Brandom, Wilfrid Sellars, and William Wimsatt.

Date and Time: March 25, 2014, 6:30pm
Location: Wollman Hall, The New School
66 West 12th Street  New York, NY 10011

This is a free event and open to the public.
Seating is limited: please order tickets via Eventbrite.

MANUAL OVERRIDE: THE SABOTAGE OF CAPITAL
4 Lectures by Evan Calder Williams

Lecture 2: THE SABOTAGE OF TIME
March 10, 7 PM – 10PM
E206 Glass corner conf. room  25 East 13th street, 2nd floor
Free and open to the public. Seating is limited: please register on Eventbrite.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/evan-calder-williams-manual-override-lecture-2-the-sabotage-of-time-tickets-10660867943

This lecture examines one of sabotage’s central qualities and a primary cause of its frequent demonization throughout the last century: its peculiar timescale. This is a mode of time fundamentally opposed to the identity of subject and act that underpins any representational politics, be it voting or street protests. In place of that, sabotage suggests making use of the very paths and delays of circulation. By the time the damage is discovered, no one source can be found, because the commodity, technique, or idea has already routed through the world in the name of capitalizing on uneven zones of wealth and resource. It is a failure without an author. Running counter to the very idea that one should stand up and be counted, sabotage hijacks the time of circulation and arms it against itself. Topics considered include: friction, feedback, and hoards; Veblen on competition and dog-owning; Castoriadis, Simondon, and Stiegler on technical time; steamship ruins in the Bermejo River; supply chains; Ballard; cunning and speed; pipes that go nowhere.

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An overview of all four of Calder Williams’ talks: 
http://ctm.parsons.edu/events/lecture-series/2013-14-fellows-lectures/